a) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to medicine containers having lockable closures, and more particularly, to such containers wherein the lockable closures are both child-resistant and adult (or senior) friendly.
b) Description of Prior Art
The Poison Prevention Packaging Act went into effect in 1970 requiring that certain harmful packaged materials, including poisons, certain chemicals, and medications be contained in child-resistant containers (or CRC's). In response to this act, and public demand, there have been a multitude of containers offered to package such dangerous materials. Among these containers include the "Clic-Loc" closure which requires a user to rotate the cap with respect to the container until two marks (arrows) align, at which point a finger tab may be moved upward and the cap pried from the container to an open position.
Another type of CRC is a "push and turn" type and includes a cap having an outer shell and an inner sealing retainer. The outer shell freely rotates about the inner sealing retainer until a predetermined downward force is applied by the adult user. The downward force engages the outer shell with the inner retainer and must be maintained throughout the opening procedure. The retainer includes conventional threads and once engaged with the outer shell, its rotation by the adult user will open the container.
Although these conventional containers discourage children from gaining access to the medicine or chemicals located within the container while providing fair access to adults, the operations required to open these containers have proven to be very difficult to perform by elderly, disabled, inured or by those otherwise lacking in hand coordination.
A problem with the conventional "push and turn" containers is that during opening, the user must force the cap towards the container body to ensure that the outer skirt remains engaged with the inner retainer, while the cap is rotated away from the container body. This opposing mechanical action required to open the conventional "push and turn" child-resistant containers is very uncomfortable to the user and only adds to the difficulty and frustration in opening the container. The user ends up "fighting" against his own action, as he opens the container.
Owing to the difficulties in opening conventional child-resistant containers, many users may deliberately leave the container or package open so that they may readily access their medicine in the future. An obvious problem resulting in leaving a medicine container open or effectively open (i.e., disabling any child resistant lock) is that children also may gain access to the medicine. Each year, approximately 130,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms for accidental poisoning resulting from prescription drugs, and certain over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin, and of these poisonings, about 50 children die.
Recently, there has been interest in supplying a new type of container called "senior-friendly" containers (SFC's) to those adults who have difficulty in manipulating conventional CRC's or even regular, non-child resistant containers. For the most part, these senior-friendly containers have provisions which allow the elderly (or those otherwise lacking in hand coordination) to easily open the container, but unfortunately do not also include child-proof features to prevent access of the drugs to children.
On Jun. 15, 1995, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to revive the test-procedures used under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act to make packaging easier to open by adults between the ages of 50 and 70, while maintaining its child resistance. The CPSC recognizes that child-resistant containers requiring two or more mental steps to be opened may sufficiently discourage children from accessing the container's dangerous contents.